It's time to go on over and benefit from the deep bookish knowledge these people hold in their heads and hearts, and decide which noisy slice of magic to wrestle into my bag and take home.

Civil society groups such as KCSDS need to pressurize upon J&K Bank to start the concept of interest-free banking. CUK’s department of management studies is going to launch a Diploma in Islamic Banking as part of economics and we already have one paper regarding this subject but only bookish knowledge won’t help.

Learning should not be limited inside the four walls; the students should be given enough time to spend on extra-curricular activities. Sports are not the only extra-curricular activity that the schools can adopt. There are various activities that can be inculcated for quality learning. Bookish knowledge will not bring development and progress in our society as the quality of mind will remain stagnant. If we expect the young minds to bring solution to the problems faced in the state, then the goal of education should not be just ‘marks’ but on knowledge, skills and understanding of the changes taking place around us and how to evolve positive changes in future.

I’m starting a neighborhood book club, but I want to make sure that only the most committed individuals join. So I considered having the club meet a bit outside of our neighborhood, or early in the day on Saturday. Would these methods ensure that I will only get the most dedicated readers?

—Dylan

I faced a similar dilemma when I started teaching. I wanted to get only the most dedicated students, so I decided to hold the class at 8 a.m. My logic was that only the most motivated students would sign up for such an early class. Two weeks in, though, I realized I was wrong. About half of the students weren’t showing up; many others were sleeping in class.

It turns out that my approach backfired: Instead of getting dedicated students, I got the ones who couldn’t wake up on time to register for classes that took place in a more reasonable hour.

I’ve read that gossip represents a huge proportion of people’s communication with each other. Why do you think gossip (ngồi lê đôi mách, chuyện tầm phào) is so pervasive?

—Shelly

The short answer is it’s titillating (kích thích, mắc cười). But there is a deeper reason for why people dish about other people: It is society’s way of regulating behavior (điều chỉnh hành vi). We usually think negatively of gossip, but fear of being gossiped about can be beneficial.

A 2011 study by Bianca Beersma and Gerben A. Van Kleef about why people gossip illustrated this. They gave 147 participants lottery tickets and told them to allocate as many as they wanted to themselves or to others. Some of the participants were led to believe that the group would gossip about their decision. These subjects acted more charitably: They kept fewer tickets for themselves and gave more to the group.